1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to data storage systems and, more specifically, to identifying containers in a database that include references to one or more specified data items.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organizations often store large amounts of content that need to be preserved, e.g., emails, documents, web communications, etc. As a result, various backup or archiving systems may be employed to store this content for later accessibility.
Certain of such systems, including SYMANTEC'S ENTERPRISE VAULT, allow a user to specify various archiving policies for a set of backup data. For example, a user might establish a storage retention policy that specifies the length of time for storing a particular set of data. The user may also set different retention policies for different groups of data—e.g., based on the importance of the data. In one instance, an organization might want to store certain important documents for 5 years, while storing lesser important documents for shorter periods such as 6 months.
Some backup or archiving systems have the ability to set retention policies for a group of data items. For example, a user may assign a specific retention policy for a folder that includes a set of email messages. In certain database systems, multiple database containers include references to the same data items. For example, a database for an email program may include a container corresponding to a user's inbox. The inbox may reference a particular email that is also referenced by another database container (e.g., another user-created folder).